Oil level gauge



M. E. CHENEY OIL LEVEL GAUGE June 16, 1931.

Original Filed Dec. 18; 1928 awueutoz 7%, a. fitter/neg;

Patented June 16, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOSES E. CHENEY, OFFLUSHING, NEW YORK,

EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, OF LONG ISLANDYCITY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE ASSIGNOR TO MOTO METER GAUGE &

OIL LEVEL GAUGE Original application filed December 18, 1928, Serial No.826,775. Divided and this application filed April 8, r 1930. Serial No.442,547. a

This invention relates to an improvement in gear-less. tank fittingsespeciall adapted for electric liquid level gauges 0 the type commonlyused on commercial motor cars and is a division of the applicationSerial No. 326,775 filed December 18, 1928, which has since issued asPatent No. 1,796,000, March 10, 1931.

One object is, to devise a simple unitary structure comprising a floatarm and rheostat chamber that can be readily assembled on a tankanddisassembled therefrom, dispensing with gear connections and havin therheostat chamber outside the tank while the part containin theconnections for the float arm is within t e tank, the two parts beingreadily connected together into one unitary device capable of beingreadily attached to the tank. It is also adapted for use with alldiflerent shapes and sizes of tanks. This unitary device is formed froma stamping and especially adapted to be used with gasoline tanks ofvarious sizes and shapes in common use on motor cars. For that reasonthe upperand lower parts of the rheostat member are stamped out of metalwith flat projecting portions and when these are secured together thereis formed an insertable fittin having a completely enclosed central chamr with a single opening through one of the solid side Walls of the lowerpart of the chamber for the float arm shaft and a single opening in thesolid upper wall of the upper part of the chamber for the terminal forthe electric circuit, the resistor bein' on the inside 0 the are shapedwall of the upper portion of said chamber. In this way there is formed acompact insertable rheostatfloat arm fitting of the gearless type. for atank which is readily assembled on the tank. By reason of the relativepositioning of the axial shaft chamber for the float arm within thetank, the necessary movement of the float arm is permitted, the armhaving an arc of movement such as to bring the fioat arm intoparallelism with the top of the tank without interference from the edgesof walls of the tank that would otherwise occur, if the axial shaft wason the outside of the tank. The device will work equally well with longof arc shape and positioned shallow tanks or deep narrow tanks.Moreover, the resistor chamber being positioned on the outside of thetanks insures a minimum of danger from explosion when applied to agasoline tank.

The flat marginal portions projecting from the separate units,comprising the rheostat chamber, are first secured together by means ofsecuring devicesand then this unitary de- 7 ous ways contemplated bythis invention,

drawings depicting a preferred typical con struction has been annexed asa part of this disclosure and, in such drawings, like characters ofreference denote parts throughout all the views, of which:-

In the drawings Figure 1 is'a sectional view on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;Fig. 2 is a plan View and Fig. 3 is a side elevational view, parts beingshown in section.

Referring to Fig. 1 the top wall of the tanks is indicated by 1, therheostat tank fitting marked 2 being secured to the top'w'all of saidtank.

The tank fitting comprises two separate units, the upperhalf comprisingone unit and the lower half a separate unit. These twounits are formedas indicated in Fig. 1

by stamping out of a piece of metal a central chamber with marginalprojections around said chamber. The chambers'are marked 3 and 4 and theprojecting flange 5' and .6. The central portion marked 3 is theresistor chamber and the central portion 4 is the chamber for theconnecting shaft of the float arm. r

The rivets 7 secure the two flanges together and the screws 8 secure thestructure to the tank. v i

The float 9 is securedto the bent arm of the rod 10 andthe upper end ofsaid rod is concorresponding nected to the axial member 11. whichprojects within the lower chamber 4 and is journaled in the side wallsof said chamber. The axial member 11 and the rod 10 are shown connectcdtogether, but in said co-pending application Serial No. 326,775 an axialmember is the bent end of the rod 10. This member 11 has an outer andinner flange 12, and the bushings 13 and 14L cooperating with saidflanges form thrust bearings for said axis. The member 11 may first beinserted within said chamber 41, the washers 12 then placed on saidshaft and the wiper arm 15 then be driven into place or otherwisesecured to it, spring 16 and contact button 17 thereupon anchoring theshaft in place. The terminal 19 is arranged to anchor the resistor 20 inplace.

It will now be apparent that this fitting peculiarly well adapted foruse with all kinds and shapes of gasoline tanks wherein the float armoperates an oscillating wiper arm which travels over a resistor thatconnected to an electric circuit. For one thing, the two units whenconnected together form a solid casting having a substantiallyimperforated chamber for the resistor which is positioned outside of thetank while an opposing lower chamber has merely its side wallsperforated for the axial member which forms the journal for the wiperarm. Another feature is that the chamber for the axial member of thefitting is positioned within the tank itself and by combining this withthe horizontal shaft 11 it is only necessary to have an axial opening inthe walls of the chamber in which the shaft can pivot thereby dispensingwith any slotted opening and also dispensing with gear connections. Thechamber 4t projects sufficiently far within the tank to insure that thefloat arm will have the necessary unobstructed movement when positionedin a shallow or deep tank, and at the same time the parts are arrangedinto a compact unitary fitting that can readily be assembledon agasoline tank in a way to lessen the danger of explosion or fire.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthis invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readilyadapt it for various utilizations by retaining one or more of thefeatures that, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constituteessential characteristics of either the generic or specific aspects ofthis invention and, therefore, such adaptations should be, and areintended to be, comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalencyof the following claims Having thus revealed this invention, I claim asnew and desire to secure the following combinations and elements, orequivalents thereof, by Letters Patent of United States 1. A floatoperated rheostat comprising a casing composed of upper and lowerstampings having fiat marginal portions secured together and havingupwardly and downward ly pressed central portions forming a chamber, anarcuate resistance coil mounted in the upwardly pressed portion of theupper stamping, a shaft journaled in the downwardly pressed portion ofthe lower stamping, and

substantially coaxial with said coil, a contact arm within the chamberfixed to the sh aft and engaging said arcuate resistance coil, and afloat arm fixed to said shaft cxteriorly of the casing.

2. A float operated rheostat comprising a casing having an upwardlyarcuatcd top wall and a bottom wall having a central depression, aresistance element of arcuate form secured to the interior of the topwall, a trans verse shaft substantially coaxial with the arcuateresistance element journaled in the depression of the bottom wall andextending through a side wall of the depression, a contact arm fixed tosaid shaft and engaging said resistance element, and a float arm fixedto said shaft exteriorly of the casing.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

MOSES E. CHENEY.

